The rescue plan that could close up to 150 TGJones stores has been approved by the High Court — leaving seven south-west Wales branches waiting to learn their fate.
Branches at Swansea’s Quadrant Shopping Centre, Carmarthen’s Guildhall Square, Llanelli, Neath, Bridgend, Tenby and Haverfordwest were all named as potentially at risk when the closures were announced in May.
None of the seven has been confirmed for closure — and each store’s future now hinges largely on its landlord. Under the approved plan, rents will be cut by between 15% and 75% on hundreds of stores, while around 120 landlords will receive no rent at all for up to three years.
Landlords who refuse the new terms can end their leases instead — and that is where most of the closures are expected to fall.
In Swansea, that puts the decision in the hands of Centurion Group — the Quadrant’s owner, which is separately preparing to name new tenants for the former Debenhams in the city.
Mr Justice Hildyard approved the plan on Wednesday (1 July), describing it as complex and far-reaching. He said his biggest concern had been the financial hit to landlords, but he was persuaded the rescue was, objectively, the lesser of two evils.
The approval caps a turbulent few weeks in which landlords revolted over the plan and bailiffs reclaimed a Midlands store. Property giant British Land had branded the proposals fundamentally unfair, before dropping its opposition after winning concessions.
The court heard the retailer was on the brink of insolvency, facing a cash shortfall of nearly £8 million within days if the deal was not approved.
Tom Smith KC, for TGJones, told the hearing the business was “highly distressed” and “running on fumes at the moment”.
He said the chain would have run out of cash in April, had it not been for a £10 million loan from owner Modella Capital and the deferral of liabilities — including the £8.4 million owed to HMRC revealed in creditor documents in May.
The approved plan brings a further £15 million loan from Modella, alongside the rent cuts and redundancies across stores and the company’s support centre.
Up to 150 of the chain’s 451 stores are expected to close, with the plan forecasting the business will be left with around 302 — depending on how many landlords walk away rather than accept lower rents.
The chain employs 4,700 people, and hundreds of jobs are expected to go, though no redundancy figure has been confirmed. WH Smith has already refused to fund enhanced redundancy payments for staff who lose their jobs — leaving those affected facing the statutory minimum.
The stakes reach beyond the shops themselves: the Quadrant, Neath and Carmarthen branches all host Post Office counters, a threat that prompted the Deputy First Minister to write to the chain over the Neath branch in May.
The Post Office and Toys R Us, which runs concessions inside some stores, both supported the restructuring in court.
Modella — which rebranded the stores from WHSmith after buying the high street business last year — admitted last month the retailer was almost completely broken, blaming years of under-investment by the previous owner and the loss of the 234-year-old name, which was a condition of the sale.
Chief executive Alex Willson welcomed the ruling, saying: “This decision allows us to move ahead with our turnaround strategy.”
Wales has 26 of the chain’s stores, and the south-west Wales branches anchor some of the most prominent pitches on their high streets — the entrance to the Quadrant in Swansea and Guildhall Square in Carmarthen among them.
The wait comes with the region’s high streets already under pressure — Llanelli, Neath and Swansea are among the towns watching Shoe Zone review its local stores, and Swansea’s flagship M&S closed in May.
WHSmith itself lives on at airports and railway stations, where the travel stores kept the historic name.
